Armenia gets fed up with 'Putin's NATO' and says it to his face: "It's depressing"

• Interview Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia: "We Armenians are the last bulwark against the Turks"

• Questions with Answer Drums of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan: the last 'thorn' of Russia

Vladimir Putin has tied the former USSR worse and worse, and

.

As Russia wages a war against Ukraine to prevent it from successfully approaching the NATO umbrella, one of the members of the defensive alliance (OTSC) led by Moscow has told the Russian leader to his face that his protection is useless .

Despite being Russia's ally on paper, Armenia has received no help in the face of Azerbaijan's advance.

Fighting flared up again in September and more than 200 soldiers were killed.

The Armenian government requested assistance from the organization in September, but received only a promise to send observers.

Seated to the left of Putin at a circular table, the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has said enough in front of the cameras.

in his opening remarks at a summit in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

"It is depressing that Armenia's membership in the CSTO does not deter Azerbaijan from aggressive actions," Pashinyan said to the somewhat stunned face of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who sat across from him with open arms.

The CSTO is known as 'Putin's NATO'.

Includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, as well as Russia and Armenia.

It is one of Russia's ways of

.

But the Armenian war has shown that this kind of 'post-Soviet NATO' is no guarantee.

And the Russian withdrawals in Ukraine, even in regions that it considers annexed, further increase the mistrust of some partners towards the Russian 'iron fist'.

September 1 was the worst clash since 2020, when more than 6,000 people were killed in a 44-day war in which Azerbaijan scored major territorial victories in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Russia did not budge then either.

Only later did it send some 2,000 peacekeeping troops under a ceasefire agreement, but so far it has been unable to help resolve outstanding issues.

The most complicated is the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory that Armenians and Azerbaijanis have been fighting for since the end of the USSR.

But the aggravating factor last September was that the fighting did not take place in territories whose sovereignty is in dispute,

.

When the Armenian leader refused to sign the summit document, Putin looked resignedly at his Belarusian comrade and

.

Images of what is normally a boring summit have gone viral on Russian and Armenian social media.

In his remarks, Putin acknowledged some unspecified "problems" facing the CSTO and noted that more efforts are needed to achieve peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Busy with the war in Ukraine, and with bad chemistry with the Armenian president - who came to power by defeating a more pro-Kremlin candidate - Putin has reluctantly attended the war disaster of his supposed ally.

That is why he compared Russian inaction in front of everyone to the alliance's quick decision to send troops to another CSTO member, Kazakhstan, in January to help President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev survive a wave of unrest.

When Lukashenko faced protests in 2020, Moscow was also ready to intervene at any time.

Although the hurt Armenian leader has refused to sign the CSTO's Collective Security Council declaration, the Kremlin has downplayed the episode, saying

.

After the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov tried to convince journalists that despite what they had heard, Russia continues to play a very important role in peace efforts.

fight without support

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds for decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but largely controlled by the largely Armenian population, with support from Yerevan.

and is not a member of the CSTO, but its government is not on bad terms with Moscow.

Putin already has too much with a war in his front yard (Ukraine) and wants a negotiated solution in his backyard (North Caucasus),

.

That is why he advocates reaching agreements on the definition of its borders, and the unblocking of transport and communication links.

Solving humanitarian problems is also key, Putin noted.

In the last hours in Yerevan, especially in the central square of the capital, the message of many Armenians has been rejection of Moscow.

," shouted Lilit, a 47-year-old office worker, according to

in a chronicle from the city.

Back in September, the Armenian prime minister formally submitted a request to the CSTO to intervene after towns across the country were shelled from across the border with Azerbaijan.

It was all in vain.

Protesters took to the streets of Yerevan in the wake of the decision, calling for Armenia's withdrawal from the bloc.

At the beginning of the interventions,

.

"We see problems with the work of the CSTO," Putin said at a conference center in Yerevan.

"But still it is obvious that it helps to protect the national interests, sovereignty and independence of our countries," he added.

The unity of the organization has been called into question, and not only by Armenia.

In September a border conflict broke out between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, both members of the alliance.

More than 140 soldiers died.

Kyrgyzstan withdrew from the joint military exercises, paradoxically called the Indestructible Brotherhood, which had been scheduled for the following month.

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